


All That Matters

by Bookwormpride



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Episode: s02e22 The Answer, F/F, Fluff, Set between Ruby and Sapphire leaving Homeworld and Garnet joining the Crystal Gems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 15:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13170192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookwormpride/pseuds/Bookwormpride
Summary: “Garnet, can I ask you something?” Steven said after blowing the rising steam off the top of his drink.“Go on,” She agreed, looking at him curiously.“How did Ruby and Sapphire know they were in love?” He asked.Garnet tells Steven the story of how Ruby and Sapphire came to realize they loved each other.





	All That Matters

**Author's Note:**

> If I could pick, a single moment  
> To tell you how I fell right into the blue  
> Then I would tell, the time my heart felt  
> And I would probably say that it was a quarter to two  
> \----  
> And now we sit  
> And wonder where life went  
> Of all the moments I missed, I'm glad I didn't miss you  
> -All That Matters, Estelle

Sitting at the window seat Steven watched the rain pouring outside, drops trickling down the glass, the surface of the ocean rippling.

His phone buzzed with a text from Connie. She had sent a selfie she took walking home from school in the rain. The hair poking out from under the hood of her blue rain jacket wet and sticking to her cheeks, her polkadot umbrella open but held over her shoulder in such a way that it did little to protect her from the downpour. She was beaming as brightly as if it were a sunny day.

Steven’s chest felt tingly and warm.

Garnet came from the kitchen, carrying two mugs of hot chocolate. Sitting down, she handed one to him, placing the other beside her.

“Garnet, can I ask you something?” Steven said after blowing the rising steam off the top of his drink.

“Go on,” She agreed, looking at him curiously.

“How did Ruby and Sapphire know they were in love?” He asked, his cheeks turning slightly pink.

Garnets lips quirked up on one side. “Different ways. There was a lot of little things… moments, feelings.” She said thoughtfully. “They were uncertain, a little fearful at times. Neither had felt that way before and it confused them, but they came to realize that what they felt for each other could only be love.”

“But _how_ did they realized? What did it _feel_ like?” Steven pressed.

She chuckled and opened her arms. “C’mere.”

Steven crawled across the cushions to sit in her lap, his back to her chest, She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. “For Ruby it was…”

* * *

Ruby couldn’t think of a single time in her life where she had been more relaxed than she was then. With her head in Sapphires lap, cool fingers gently playing with her tightly coiled curls, every so often brushing her scalp and sending a shiver through Ruby’s form. It seemed as if all the tension she held in her body had melted.

The sky was deep navy blue, the stars beginning to dot the sky after the sun had fallen behind the horizon. Sapphire hummed quietly above her in the otherwise silent night.

It wasn’t just the soothing pull of Sapphires fingers through her hair, or the soft tune, or the silver light from the moon that calmed her. It was Sapphires very presence that quieted the anxiety and rage and restless energy that usually thrummed inside her.

Ruby felt safe with Sapphire. Not that Sapphire was particularly capable of protecting her physically or would be much use in a fight, but safe in that whatever the future held for them on this strange alien planet - as long as they were together - it would be okay.

Safe that even with the threat of Homeworlds forces potentially searching for them at that very moment, Ruby didn’t feel scared, because everything was going so right nothing could possibly go wrong.

Safe like she could relax, be vulnerable, express herself, and Sapphire wouldn’t reprimand, or judge, or hurt her, something Ruby couldn’t say about anyone else in her life up to that moment.

She closed her eyes and snuggled further into the folds of Sapphires dress. _Safe_.

 

Ruby was not an important gem to Homeworld. She was a _ruby_ , one of thousands of identical, easily replaceable, unremarkable soldiers. She wasn’t well known or highly regarded for any accomplishments, she wasn’t valuable to her squad, no one would notice if they pulled another ruby from the ground and stuck her in Ruby’s place - which they probably already had in the time since her and Sapphire had fled from the Cloud Arena.

Sapphire rejected all of that. She treated Ruby like an equal to her aristocratic self, spoke to her like she was brilliant, looked at her like she was beautiful. And she refused to let Ruby think less of herself either.

Telling Sapphire of the first time she dissipated a gem on her own Ruby ended the story with a shrug, “I mean, any of the others could have done the same thing though.”

Sapphire touched her arm lightly, fixing her in a firm stare. “But it wasn’t any of the others, it was _you_.” She said. “You should be proud.”

Recounting how furious her barracks Agate was when her squad returned from a failed mission and the punishment that followed, Ruby laughed. “She didn’t let us forget it for _rotations_ , but we deserved it.”

Sapphire didn’t laugh, to Ruby’s confusion she seemed horrified. “That's awful,” She said, shaking her head. “It was a mistake, you shouldn’t have been punished for that.”

Every “ _I’m just a ruby_ ” was met with a gentle reminder of her uniqueness, every dismissal of her worth was quickly shut down, every time she put Sapphires safety and happiness before her own Sapphire prompted her to think of herself as well.

Ruby began to believe it. She was important, she was special, she mattered.

 

Ruby found herself constantly admiring Sapphire for things she had never noticed about another gem before.

The smile she gave when she was truly happy made Ruby’s chest flutter like the wings of the colorful insects they watched land on flowers. She could never help but smile back.

Everything about her was graceful - her light footsteps when they walked on dew-wet grass in the morning, the way she parted her bangs to get a clearer view of the fireflies that floated through the meadow, how she spun around when Ruby called her name. She moved as if she was performing an eternal dance.

Her voice was the most beautiful sound Ruby had ever heard, as melodic and clear as the chorus’ of pearls Ruby would hear back on Homeworld while guarding the door for court events. She would gladly listen to Sapphire speak all day.

Ruby wondered how one gem could be so captivating.

 

The pond _was_ beautiful, set in the middle of a small forest clearing, the water reflecting the green canopy of leaves above and spotted with flowering green plants.

Ruby wanted to keep a safe distance. Sapphire wanted to swim.

“We’re gems, Ruby.” Sapphire reminded her with an amused smile. “Nothing in that water can hurt us.”

“But- but…” Ruby tried to protest as Sapphire strolled past her nonchalantly.

Sapphire phased away the skirt and sleeves of her dress, leaving an outfit better suited for swimming.

She dove into the water before Ruby could stop her. Ruby ran to the edge of the pond, waiting anxiously for her to surface. She came up laughing, pushing wet hair out of her face.

“It’s lovely, come on!” She encouraged.

Ruby couldn’t say no when Sapphire looked so happy. She waded in reluctantly, finding the water surprisingly warm and slowly beginning to feel silly for worrying.

Soon they were both playfully splashing and pulling each other under, soaked and completely carefree. Ruby sank to the bottom and popped back up to the sound of Sapphires laughter. Asking what was so funny Sapphire managed to tell her between laughs that she had something on her head.

Ruby reached up to investigate. Resting perfectly on the flat top of her hair was a lily pad.

Sapphire was covering her giggles behind her hand, her eye gleaming with amusement, and Ruby felt those butterflies in her chest and the warmth that was entirely separate from her elemental powers spread through her form, and it was like everything - the pond, the birds chirping, the water plant on her head - faded into the background.

It hit her like a punch to the gut except so much sweeter, taking her breath away. She _loved_ Sapphire.

Love was a reserved emotion on Homeworld, a feeling meant only for your Diamond, your home, your purpose.

The love she felt for Sapphire was stronger than any she had ever felt for those things. She wanted to make Sapphire laugh like that often, and she wanted to protect her, not because it was her job but because she didn’t want to see her hurt, she wanted to keep her by her side always.

Sapphire swam to her, still snickering, and pulled the plant off Ruby’s head. She plucked the white flower from the top of the pad and stuck it in Ruby’s hair, quickly pressing a kiss to her lips.

Loving her felt _right_.

* * *

 “Awww!” Steven exclaimed, almost spilling the hot chocolate in his excitement.

Garnet chuckled, steadying the mug for him. She continued on running her fingers through his hair as she had during the story. “It was a startling, intense realization for Ruby. For Sapphire it was a quieter, growing understanding..."

* * *

Sapphire had spent her life surrounded by other gems, always feeling isolated from them. Yet here on Earth, with only Ruby to keep her company, she felt less alone than she ever had before.

Ruby listened to her with interest in everything she said, not only when the subject was her visions of the future. She spoke to her with the sincerity and ease Sapphire had only heard among lower class gems who had no high-value to flaunt or ego to stoke.

Sapphire was happier and having a better time exploring Earth with Ruby then she ever had at any Blue Diamond court event with the rest of the elites.

They came across waterfalls that poured from the edges of cliffs and created beautiful displays of color in the mist below, grassy valleys ringed by white-tipped mountains, the most odd and colorful plants either of them had ever seen on any planet in Homeworlds star maps.

The organic creatures were shy, but every so often they would find a herd of deer grazing in a forest clearing, or a small blue and yellow bird would land on the log where they sat. They found that if they were still and quiet they could watch them longer.

And Sapphire discovered that in the sunlight Ruby’s eyes weren’t black but a deep red that almost exactly matched the color of the gem in her palm, and how it was endlessly endearing when she charged ahead through the underbrush and came out the other side with leaves and twigs tangled in her hair, and that the warmth radiating from her form made Ruby perfect for cuddling with when puffy white flakes began falling from the sky.

She couldn’t think of anyone else she would rather be stranded with then Ruby.

 

Sapphire had always known her entire life in advance, everything that would ever happen down to the second. Nothing surprised her, and she had never tried to change the plan that fate had set.

When Ruby first knocked her off course she had been terrified. The future she saw was different than the one she had always known would come to pass. How could the future change? And what if it changed again? What if nothing was certain at all? She couldn’t trust her future vision after that, but she didn’t know how to live without it.

But Ruby, despite beating herself up for what she saw as a failure to her purpose, was completely unfazed by the change in destiny. She didn’t know it had happened, she had never been aware there was another path to be had.

Unable to be sure of her visions, Sapphire attempted to follow Ruby’s lead, to be spontaneous and comfortable with uncertainty, to head into the forest without consulting the future, to say what she thought instead of what her future vision showed her saying, to think of what she _wanted_ rather than what was supposed to happen.

It was scary, in the beginning, to go on without a perfectly crafted plan created by the universe, but with time it came easier. It was exciting, not knowing, it made for surprises and genuine reactions and real feelings.

She would be forever grateful to Ruby for unknowingly showing her how to really live.

 

Sapphire had never felt anything as intensely as she did with Ruby.

Ruby’s hand sliding down her side and coming to rest on her hip, thumb rubbing soft circles through the fabric of her dress, made her burn with a heat she hadn’t thought she was capable of experiencing.

Pulling herself into Ruby’s lap, feeling the muscles in her arms tighten as she drew Sapphire to her, she found herself gasping for air her form didn’t require, her breath mingling with Ruby’s.

The smooth surface of Ruby’s gem brushing against the sensitive bare skin at the back of her neck caused a shudder to race down her spine.

Planting kisses to Ruby’s jaw and trailing down her throat, hearing a low moan escape her, Sapphire looked up to see Ruby’s cheeks flushed and her eyes fluttering, and felt a rush of adoration that stopped her in her tracks and momentarily stunned her.

She wanted to know all of Ruby, to touch every edge and curve and plain of her body, to hear the stories of every moment in her life, to memorise each expression that crossed her face.

Those things would come with time if she was patient. For now, this closeness was enough.

 

Earth's sunsets were beautiful, all vibrant oranges and reds fading into soft pinks and purples before turning to night. Sapphire had traveled to many planets in many galaxies but couldn’t think of a single view that compared.

Ruby lowered her head to Sapphires chest, her hair tickling Sapphire’s chin. Sapphire found her hand and intertwined their fingers without taking her eyes off the horizon.

She was never supposed to be here, this moment was never supposed to happen.

She hadn’t regretted her impulsive decision for an instant since she turned her back on Homeworld. Leaving had brought her freedom, joy, discovery, and best of all, Ruby. If she had stayed on the path she was meant to she would have never seen her ruby guards again once she reformed on Homeworld after being dissipated by the rebel Pearl.

That thought made her feel heavy. A life without Ruby was the worst future she could imagine, and it had almost came to be. A life without Ruby would be empty and cold and unsatisfying. She never would have known true happiness or passion or _love_.

The word surprised her, but it quickly settled into a calm certainty. She loved Ruby.

She loved the way Ruby’s nose scrunched up when she was frustrated, and she loved her enthusiasm. She loved the feeling of Ruby’s rough, calloused hands in hers, and her calm when Sapphire was afraid. Her recklessness, her strength, her bravery, and her softness, her caring, her quiet. Sapphire loved all of it, she loved everything about Ruby.

In the otherwise nonsensical timeline she had found herself in, loving Ruby was the only thing that made sense.

* * *

“Did they tell each other?” Steven asked, absentmindedly playing with Garnet’s hands, tracing the square and triangle cuts of her gems.

“Not right away,” Garnet said. “It wasn’t something that needed to be said aloud to be understood.”

Steven gave a nod.

On the other side of the window seat his phone buzzed again, he leaned forward to get it, answering Connie's text before scrolling back up to the picture she had sent before, smiling softly.

“Why did you want to know?” Garnet asked, unconcealed amusement clear in her voice.

Steven’s cheeks burned when he realized Garnet was looking over his shoulder. He forced an uneasy laugh as he clumsily tried to lock the phone. “N-no reason!”

Garnet simply ruffled his hair and chuckled knowingly.

 

 


End file.
